I am really enjoying this season so far. This to be fair this is our traditional league for which I am most accostomed to seeing us play, in fact I prefer this than the premiership for purely selfish reason, easer to park, less expensive, less thrashings, less CAFC conscripts from the Gillingham area arriving on buses squinting in the daylight. I think I have seen enough to be confident of a mid table finish possibly with a late charge for playoffs. I am not panicking in the slightest. In fact it was better than last season because winning makes dickheads of supporters and we have enough of those. Losing breeds characther, resolve and guts and I think we have that in spades on the pitch. Just want to mention two of THIS season purchases will turn out great Fuller and Kerker will be huge for us as will Reo-coker. This makes a mockery of the argument that we have not bought well this season, we have, we have not sold well, and perhaps we should have unloaded Stevens, BWP, Jackson to free up funds. I can't see any reason to panic yet.
Reasons to panic? No. Reasons to be disappointed? Yes. I still don't think we have a bad team - the defence and Hamer are being asked to do far too much. We need to get a balanced midfield, and by that I don't mean having a flat 4. Green has made a positive impact in his game and a half, and Kerkar seemingly impressed (though IA said he played up top). Fuller will come in sooner or later - by his admission he isn't fit, but I agree with a point on another post that I would rather him play 60-65 minutes from the start. I too think we maybe need to dip in to the loan market, or definitely spend in January. We need 2 midfielders.
No, nor can I typical, but we must play to our strengths or we'll be playing catch-up all season. To a certain extent in League One we could get away with getting something from a below par performance, but this league's way more unforgiving and mistakes or lapses in concentration will be punished ruthlessly. Sir Chris made the comment a couple of weeks ago to the effect that there wasn't much in terms of ability and squad strength between the 24 teams and I think we could see more than a few 'upsets' this season, where a relatively unfancied team beats one perceived to be one of the main contenders for honours.
We can always be disapointed but thats half the fun isn't it. We have reached our level with this league. Last season was hugely uneventful, winning and winning got boring, there was no chase, no villains, no one to take the blame. Patting our backs we forgot how much passion there is in losing. What did CAFC fan Del Trotter say "I thought it would be more fun being a millionairre, I ilked it when we were ducking and diving, wheeling and dealing....I liked the struggle" ps we do need two new midfielders though, we have one, I think Powelly will call in a favour soon.
Honestly I think we need another 2 CM's (I think Kerkar will yet make the left his own in time). NRC would be brilliant, but apparently his suitors are from Russia (where I imagine the money will talk). I know what you mean in terms of losing and the excitement that uncertainty brings going in to every match, but after 3 defeats and being massively outplayed in the majority of those minutes - I can't help but feel deflated. At this minute, I'm not looking forward to traveling to Ipswich, but I assume on the day it will be different.
Agree completley with Typical but mostly with Chrissy's 'Reason to be dissapointed' philosophy. Our squad is one of the best in the League and I'm troubled that we aren't getting the best from it. A mid table season is all well and good in a consolidation way. But consolidation, in todays climate, will lead to our best players being gradually sold off in my opinion, which will halt us long term. The dream would be to win the league and decline promotion though as I definitley don't want to be in the Premiership.
I expect that when The Doctor stops playing players out of position (Pritchard, Solly) we'll see an improvement.
Do you really think so? I agree with the bit about not getting the most out of them, but the likes of Nottingham Forest have vastly better squads than we do IMO. Back to typical's question: I'm not going to panic yet. It's often the case that mid-table teams go on one really bad run, and one really good run (Derby have done something like that in the past couple of seasons), and I think that's what we'll do.
Not panicking but seriously concerned. The fact is that we have not really played consistently well since January. Sure we showed great resilience in grinding out results during the second half of last season but we were playing against a poor standard of opposition This year, a few things have been confirmed, namely: Jacko is too slow for this league, Pritchard is out of his depth, Kermit is winning about 30% of the balls he won in the air last year, we play one dimensionally (hoofball) despite the fact that on the odd occasion when we keep it down we look good, the midfield is way too deep and we lack width, our squad is thin in terms of quality and SCP has a loyalty blindspot for certain players and appears not to realise that the guys in the bibs are available for selection during a game. None of these factors are new. All were obvious in varying degrees from last year. I have no more idea than the next guy what the state of our finances are or whether the Board are going to hell in a handcart and I'm not going to speculate. All I can judge is what I can see. I've seen four of our six games so far and its not rocket science. We were very lucky (not knocking our spirit or resilience) not to lose to (especially) Leicester and also Hull. We got completely caned against Forest and, apparently for 70 minutes last night. We could easily have one point. Worryingly, we have now played two teams who we expected to be on a par with, and of those who we expected to be pressing at the top of the league, two (Leicester and Brum) are struggling too - and Leicester looked way better than us. Add to that Wiggins getting crocked and we appear to be in a bad way. But I'm really not panicking. Yet. SCP has had an earlier wake up call than we feared or hoped. I am genuinely glad that our heros from last year got the chance to step up but he must now be clear what needs to be done. Even from our meagre squad its obvious what changes need to be made. Kerkar, Fuller (when fit) and Green must start. Sorry Jacko, Pritch and (though it pains me totally to say so) Kermit need to make way and we need to play it on the ground. Hollands too should be out if a replacement (Reo-Coker or A. N. Other) comes in. If the pot permits reinforcements in due course then that's great but this squad should have enough about it to pull through. Peterborough are pants and I wasn't massively impressed by Palace, especially if Zaha gets sold and Millwall, Barnsley and a few others will surely get dragged down. But we mustn't get cut adrift early. We need changes to personel and playing style and we need them now! I hope and trust that SCP has got that with both barrels. I'll panic if he doesnn't get it and we still have five points after another four games.
Considering Squad as a collective rather than a set of players then yes, our squad is potentially a top 10 squad.
Can I start a "Powell out" campaign now, or should I wait until after our defeat by Ipswich? Nothing like a good witchhunt. I enjoyed persecuting Les Reed the most because I knew he had the club at heart and was too old to be given another chance anywhere. No point in persecuting some smartarse who moves on to a big Premiership club and European competition. Another campaign I haven't seen yet, but is bound to pop up soon, is "bring in Curbs as Director of Football to offer advice while the Doctor is learning the job".
If I was a manager I certainly be reading the forums, especially if I were to see things like last year "Drop Hamer" and that because then I would give the fans what they wanted, if it went wrongs then you could say to the fans they wanted to see it and there, not quite to plan etc.
Not panicked, disappointed for the lads as could and should have done better and to be fair was happy with first few games results for what was going to be a steep learning curve. But I only ever wanted one thing this season, avoid relegation. Look at the points gap between us and the top, it isn't big at all. The championship is a tight league. I would rather have issues now and sort them than do ok, then start plummeting and falling into that zone without any games left.
They're having a really bad night against Wolves - I can feel a hard fought six-pointer coming on Saturday.
Was that aimed at me, Tewks? New posters this season may already be aware of my contempt for those flaky Brylcreem boys called "out and out wingers", my unrequited wish to see Stephens sold for a million plus and replaced (for a season) by Daryl Russell on a free, and my unshakeable trust in, and admiration of, Danny "First Name on the Teamsheet" Hollands, but they may yet be unaware of my rage when posters write loosely and unmathematically of "six-pointers" because the season to talk of such things hasn't opened yet.
Don't panic boys! You only have to roll up to Portman Road on Saturday and as we're so nice we will even gift wrap the 3 points for you!
That would be very kind of you JWM but if you do gift wrap the points up for us,.... please don't pass them to Pritchard,.... because all he'll do is pass them directly back to you
